Wet and Wild: a Multidisciplinary Marine Education Teacher Guide, Grades K-6

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 261 889 SE 046 020 AUTHOR Murphy, Richard C. TITLE Wet and Wild: A Multidisciplinary Marine Education Teacher Guide, Grades K-6. Unit I. The Physical Ocean: Wet, Wild, and Deep = Humedo y Salvaje. Primera Unidad: El Oceano Fisico: Humedo, Salvaje y Profundo. INSTITUTION University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Inst. for Marine and Coastal Studies. SPONS AGENCY National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC), Rockville, Md. National Sea Grant Program. REPORT NO ISBN-0-89755-015-3; USCSG-ME-01-83 PUB DATE 83 GRANT 04-7-158-44113; 04-8-M01-186 NOTE 171p. PUBTYPE\ Guides - Classroom Use Guides (For Teachers) (052). -- Multilingual/Bilingual Materials (171) LANGUAGE English; Spanish EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *Climate; Elementary Education; Elementary School Science; *Environmental Education;' *Learning Activities; *Marine Education; Navigation; *Oceanography; Physical Geography; *Science Activities; Science Education; Units of Study; Weather ABSTRACT Topics and activities related to the physical ocean are the focus of this multidisciplinary, marine education teaching guide for students in kindergarten through grade 6. The guide is divided into seven sections (labeled A through G). The first six sections consist of various kinds of activities, with the appropriate grade levels (K-6, K-3, or 4-6) indicated. Each activity includes an objective, list of materials, suggested questions, instructional strategies, and when applicable, laboratory procedures and suggestions for additional work. Topics these sections examine include: (1) what is so special about water; (2) how oceans affect climate; (3) how currents affect people crossing oceans; (4) how ocean waves affect the coastline; (5) land beneath the sea; and (6) how the oceans make people feel. The final section provides supplementary activities and resources, including a card game, a list of resources, a word search game, a bibliography, and a list of films. (JN) ***********t*********************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) et Thedocument hot been reproduced as received from the person or jenizetiOn or 2inating Minor changes have been made to improve reoroducoon quality Points of view or opinions stated irt)hisdocu men' do not necessarily represent official NIE posmon or policy. 0 CIS ("D "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL INMICROFICHE ONLY HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Th;\ Friedman 11.1 TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES .1 INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 4 ISBN: 0-89755-014-5 (Six unit set) ISBN: 0-89755.015-3 (Unit I) Portions of this project were funded by the NOAA Office of Sea Grant, Department of Commerce, under Grants #04.7-158-44113 and /404.8-M01-186, to the University of Southern California. *Developed by USC Sea Grant Program Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies University'of Southern California Los Angeles, California PublishedancLDisseminated by Evaluation, Dissemination and Assessment Center California State University, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CaNfornia te 1983 USC Sea 'Grant Program Unit IUSCSGME01.83 II Wet and Wild was prepared under the auspices of the Sea Grant Program, which is part of the In- stitute for Marine and Coastal Studies at the University of Southern California. Developed by: Dorothy M. Bjur, Director, Marine Education Richard C. Murphy, Principal Author i Assisted by: Jacqueline Bailey Rojas Nancy Guenther Karyn R. Massoni Joyce Swick Designed and illustrated by: Gail Ellison, who consulted with Berthold Haas and Julian Levy Acknowledgments,to: Lawrence Weschler, for editing the introduction Jacqueline Bailey Rojas, for final revisions on the lesson plans lit III UNIT 1: THE PHYSICAL OCEAN Wet, Wild, and Deep . Table of contents Introduction 1 Section A What's So Special About Water? I Let's explore the world of air and water 6 2 What's so special about water? 10 3 What's so special about ocean water? 12 4 How does it feel to change states? 14 5 Why is the sea salty? 15 6 Supplementary activities and resources 18 Section B How Does the Ocean Affect Climate? 1 The hydrologic cycle 22 2 Our global thermostat 24 3 How does,the ocean affect temperatures? 26 4 Some causIs of abnormalities in our weather 29 5 Keeping an eye on the weather 30 op. Section C How Do Currents Affect People Crossing the Ocean? I Oceamurrents and heating 35 2 The shZttest distance is not a straight line 37 3 Currents and sea travel 38 4 Supplementary activities and games 44 / / UNIT 1: TIHE PHYSICAL OCEAN Table of Contents (continued) / Section D How Do Ocean Waves Affect the Coastline? 47 1 How does the ocean change our coastline? 1 / 2 Warning...tsunami! 50 3 Storm at sea 51 4 How does the moon affect the tides? 52 Section E What's Down There? (The Earth Beneath the Sea) 1 The earth beneath the sea 54 2 Plates that are not dishes 56 3 The lost continent 60 Section F How Does the Ocean Make People Feel? 1 The poetic ocean 62 2 Feeling the sea 63 3 Seeing the sea 64 4 Getting tuned in 65 Section G Supplementary Activities and Resources 1 "Fish " --a card game 68 2 A game 70 3 Bibliography 71 4 Films 78 vl UNIT 1: THE PHYSICAL OCEAN Introduction Wet, wild, and deep A The earth is a water planet. Itis water which makes our planet habitable. Through its remarkable capacity to store heat, water tempers the extremes of temperature, acting as a global thermostat by absorbing and releasing heat wherever excesses or shortfalls exist. We may think of water molecules as tiny'magnets. Each is attracted to the otherwater likes itself. This mutual attraction holds the molecules together: they tend to resist becoming separated when heated. Water does not boil easily; rather, it holds heat. As water cools, heat is released equal to that which had been stored. Life would be impossible if water changed to a gas (that is, boiled) at low temperatures. Another consequence of water's affinity for itself is surface ten, ion, the striking characteristic whereby the surface of a body of w er seems to contract ever so slightly, acting almost like an, invisib elastic membrane. Detergents are useful because they reduce thi property, enabling water to penetrate and cleanse more easily. But water is not a complete introvert it also likes other substances. Water is often called the universal solvent because of its unusually high capacity for dissolving other substances. These high solvent pro- perties.make water an ideal medium for life. The buoyancy of water, the upward force it exerts on objects floating at its surface or immersed inside it, depends largely on its density. Therefore, a person floats higher in salt water than in fresh water. Temperature also affects buoyancy. Divers, submarines, and ships are profoundly affected by the pressure effects and buoyancy of water. , The earth receives more of the sun's energy at the equator than at the poles. As a result, the oceans receive more heat near the equator than they do at the poles. Currents act to equalize this imbalance. As they carry heat away from the tropics, they modify the extremes of 1 UNIT 1: THE PHYSICAL OCEAN Introduction (continued) temperature on earth. The earth's spin tends to veer these powerful currents clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern, westward-poleward and then eastward in both cases. The Gulf Stream, the phenomenal "ocean river" coursing the western edge of the North Atlantic, for example; carries warm equatorial waters north along America's eastern seaboard and then on towards England. England, which is bathed by these waters, is therefore con- siderably warmer than Newfoundland, which the current bypasses. Changes in sea surface temperatures are indeed the primary catalysts for transitions in the world's weather patterns: thus, past dry winters of the western United States and the harsh winters in f he east have been correlated to an increase in the sea surface temperatures of the North Pacific. Knowledge of ocean currents has been important to shipping throughout history, and maritime nations have prospered or declined filsIsaft. depending on their familiarity with them. To this day sailors steer lisistosisth,egssausisile. their ships either to use currents or avoid therm. Benjamin Franklin or 0IIMANwit% was one of the first Americans to study the currents and put them to use. He wondered why the mailships took two weeks longer to make the tfip from England than on the trip back. He learned from local fishermen that there was a place in the ocean where the water flowed eastward like a riverthis was the Gulf Stream. The English mailships on their way to Americo were known 'to try and buck this countervailing current rather than chart their courses a few miles to the north or south. Franklin's advice to the English fleet was to use this Gulf Stream current on the way to England and avoid its counter- productive force on the trip to America. By re-charting their course they could greatly diminish the round-trip time. During the following century, an American, Matthew Fontaine Maury, tabulated data he had garnered from sailors and historical logs throughout the world, thereby generating an invaluable series of charts of currents and winds. Use of -these charts reduced the sailing time between Rio de Janeiro and New York, for example, from 55 to 35 days, and from New York to San Francisco from 183 to 135 days. 2 8 UNIT 1: THE PHYSICAL OCEAN Introduction (continued) II, Surface currents are not the only kind which are of potential value to sailors: the ancient Phoenicians had knowledge of a deep current which flowed out of the Mediterranean-in direct opposition to the surface current flowing in at the Straits of Gibraltar.

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